The Art of Clones
by FutureHokage
Summary: Naruto starts his journey to become the number one clone master of Konoha


"aaaaaa" speaking 'aaaaaa' thought

**The Art of Clones**

Naruto slowly came to awareness. 'Damn what hit me?' Naruto thought. His body still ached from yesterday's battle with Mizuki. He slowly got up from his bed and walked into his kitchen. He reached into the cabinet and got the only food worthy of god, RAMEN. Naruto then cooked his ramen and started eating with vigor.

Yesterday's battle had been intense. He was tricked by Mizuki into stealing the Forbidden scroll. He had managed to learn one technique, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique). He then used the new technique to defeat Mizuki and save Iruka. After that he received Iruka's headband and became a genin. The technique had put a lot of strain on Naruto's body, that's why he was in so much pain right now. 'I guess I have to practice the Kage Bunshin some more'

The team selection was a week away from graduation which meant that there was only six days left to train, and Naruto wanted to train with his new technique. Naruto finished his ramen and threw out the cup. Next he got up and dropped to the floor. Despite his aching body, for the next thirty minutes Naruto did a more advanced workout than his usual, which included pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups on the clothes bar, stretches and basic meditation. After he finished he got up and got dressed in his orange jumpsuit and started for the door. His destination was one of the training grounds, away from the prying eyes of others.

Just as he was walking to the door, there was a knock at the door. Since he was already there he opened the door and saw a Konoha jounin at his door. The jounin thrust his hand forward and pushed a letter into Naruto's chest and walked a way. Naruto wasn't put off by this since most of Konoha had ill feelings toward him, and he now knew why since last night. Naruto opened the letter.

Dear Naruto,

I wanted to congratulate you on your successful prevention and capture of Mizuki. I also want to see you and talk about the Forbidden Scroll and what you may have learned. Please stop by the tower to see me.

The Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi

He had expected this, especially since he was the one to steal the scroll. Naruto just sighed and closed the letter. He walked out the door and closed it and started walking. He soon arrived at the tower and climbed the many steps up to the main offices. He walked into the lobby and saw many chairs and a secretary behind a desk which was in the corner of the room.

"Hello there Naruto how are you today?" The woman behind asked.

"Hello there Kasumi-san I'm here to see Oji-san" Naruto said.

"Oh he is expecting you" Kasumi said.

Naruto walked across the lobby and passed Kasumi. Kasumi was hired after several incidents with other secretaries who held a grudge against Naruto. Kasumi however was one of the few who treated Naruto like the Yondaime wanted. Naruto opened the door to the Hokage's office and walked in. Naruto saw Sarutobi behind his desk which held a giant pile of papers.

"Ne Oji-san I'm here" Naruto shouted.

Sarutobi looked up from the paper he was working on and focused on Naruto. Naruto was always loud and he already had a headache from the paperwork and Naruto's yelling didn't help.

"Naruto, sit down please" Sarutobi gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Naruto sat down in the seat that he pointed to. "You know why you are here right?"

"Is it because I stole the Forbidden scroll, because it's not my fault, I was tricked, it was Mizuki" Naruto started rambling.

The Hokage just sighed and cut Naruto off. "You are here because of your actions last night, while you did steal the scroll, the council with some persuasion and I have decided you were just following what a teacher told you to do, so the blame is not on you but Mizuki." At this Naruto visibly relaxed. "I am more interested in the technique you used to defeat him, could you show it to me?" He asked. He already knew that Naruto learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and he wanted to see it for himself.

"Eh, is that all" Naruto then jumped from his chair and landed with his feet spread should width apart. He brought his hands into the cross shaped sign and performed the technique. Five clones appeared with clouds of smoke. Sarutobi got up from his chair and tested the clones. Each one of them was solid, and he could sense that each one of them had about the same amount of chakra in each one. He then looked at the original Naruto and was surprised to see him not in the least tired. This made him very happy.

'He created five clones and isn't tired. Even at my max I could only create fifty clones and it was one of my specialties. If he can do this technique without tiring then he may be able to use the technique for its original purpose.' As Sarutobi was thinking to himself, the six Naruto's gathered around each other and started playing bull with cards that the original pulled out.

"BULL" one of the Naruto's shouted while pointing to another Naruto.

"Ha" the Naruto then flipped his cards, "Take them"

The Naruto which bulled the other took the cards while grumbling.

"Ok Naruto" all the Naruto's looked at the Hokage. "I have decided to allow you to continue to use that technique. But I am going to explain and show you why it was placed in the forbidden scroll. At this all six of the Narrator's got excited and started talking with each other energetically. The door opened slightly and you could see Kasumi look in through the crack. "Naruto have your five clones come with me, just stay here. Kasumi!"

"Y-Yes Hokage-sama" Kasumi said quickly.

"I need you to keep Naruto company"

"Yes sir" Kasumi walked into the room and sat in the chair which was next to Naruto. As the five clones got up, Sarutobi took the cards they were playing with and walked into the lobby with the clones following. Once outside, he gave each clone one card.

"Look at your cards" all the clones looked at the cards. "Now memorize the number and suite". Once they all nodded the Hokage took back the cards memorizing them as he shuffled them back into the deck, and then told the clones to disperse themselves. Then he walked back into the office. Naruto looked up confused for a second. "Ok Kasumi, you can go back" Kasumi said goodbye to Naruto and headed to the secretary desk.

The Hokage then gave the deck of cards to Naruto. "Naruto I want you to find the cards that each of your clones had" Naruto shuffled through the deck and took out five cards and placed them on the desk. Sarutobi smiled that Naruto choose the correct cards. "Ok Naruto now answer this question. How did you know which cards your clones had?"

"Ummm" Naruto was thinking to himself.

"When a shadow clone is created, it is different from other bunshins in that once created it has a free will of its own. Other clones take tremendous amounts of concentration to move, act, and speak, while shadow clones don't need the user to concentrate. Another affect is that whatever the clone experiences in its life, when dispersed goes back to the user."

At this Naruto realized the true potential of the technique. If he could create a thousand clones then he'd be able to learn things faster than anyone else. 'Hehehe ill be unstoppable'

The Hokage continued "The other reason why this technique is forbidden is that its chakra consumption is tremendously high. You can make these clones easily correct." At this Naruto nodded. "A normal chuunin would only be able to produce two clones and would get winded. A jounin can probably make ten. The max I ever could do was fifty. In Iruka's report, he stated you made hundreds. Do you know why?"

Naruto seemed to get sad at this. He looked at the floor and said, "It's because of the Kyuubi's chakra right".

"Yes and no" said Sarutobi. Naruto looked up surprised. "Do you know why every time you performed the Bunshin jutsu your clones were pathetic?" Naruto shook his head. "It's because you put to much chakra"

"But I thought the more chakra you put into the technique, the better it gets" stated Naruto.

"That is true with most jutsu, but not all. Bunshin require a great amount of control, but you have a huge amount of chakra. The seal that the Forth used bleeds chakra from the Kyuubi and allows you to use its chakra in times of need. But another thing it allows is your and its chakra which bleeds off to mix over time, thus making your reserves bigger than others. When you performed the technique last night you used your own chakra".

Naruto was surprised and very happy. He performed a jounin technique which most others couldn't even do. "So what now" he asked.

"I want you to practice a couple things. Even though you have vast amounts of chakra, you still need more chakra control. Follow me." The Hokage opened the office door. Naruto got up and followed.

Naruto and the Hokage were at the personal training field for Hokages. It was located behind the tower and had a stream which flowed through the middle of the area. On one side was a clump of trees. The other was the cliff which the monument was on.

"Ok Naruto, first before we do anything I want you to put these on" the Hokage took four bands out of his sleeve and gave them to Naruto. To Naruto they looked like normal sweat bands. "Naruto put one on each arm and leg." Naruto complied. Now focus some chakra into them, the more chakra you use the heavier they get" At this Naruto focused his chakra into the bands and immediately the sweat bands became very heavy.

"AHHHH" Naruto screamed while falling to the ground. 'Yosh, these bands must weigh 25 pounds each'

"Naruto, you focused too much into them, but it doesn't matter. You will adjust to them in no time. This is nothing compared to what Guy does" At this Naruto couldn't do anything but sweat. 'I don't ever want to meet this Guy person' Naruto though. "Before team picking I want you to practice your chakra control. There are many ways to do this. They should have showed you a way in the academy with a leaf and your forehead."

Naruto did remember it. Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, and him had all gotten in trouble for not paying attention and he was giving a lecture on discipline. He brought them into the hallway and told them off. But then gave them the exercise to do. When Iruka turned around to pick the leaves off the plant near the door, the four kids jumped out the window and skipped the rest of the day.

"Um yeah we learned it" said Naruto. 'But never tried it'

"The next exercise is called tree climbing"

"How does climbing trees help chakra control?"

"You climb the trees without using your hands"

"That's impossible" stated Naruto loudly.

"Oh really" the Hokage walked into the clump of trees and found the largest tree, which was in the center. He looked over to Naruto and saw that he was watching intently, with a smile he walked forward and to the tree. Putting one foot on the tree, he then started walking up the tree step by step. After six steps he looked over at Naruto and started laughing.

Naruto's mouth was gaping. 'No way! That is so cool how is he doing that?'

"Ok Naruto to do this you have to concentrate your chakra into your feet to grip the trunk of the tree. Now I want you to try, and start by running it's easier that way. Oh and take this, use it to mark your progress." With that he tossed a kunai to him.

Naruto picked up the kunai and charged the tree. While he was running he started trying to move his chakra to his feet. After 3 steps Naruto was blown violently backwards from the tree.

"You used too much chakra again. This exercise requires just the right amount chakra to be focused at your feet to grip the tree. To little and you will fall off, to much you blow yourself off" said the Hokage.

'So I just need to find the right amount needed' as Naruto was thinking to himself the Hokage started to leave the training ground.

"I want you to do this exercise so that you perfect it. This exercise will train your chakra reserves so they get bigger, stamina, and control"

"Heh, the by this time tomorrow I will have it perfected" stated Naruto while standing back up to give it another try.

'I think I can provoke him to do better' thought the Hokage. The Hokage started laughing. "Almost no one ever masters it in a day, and if you can do that, not only will I give you a new jutsu, but I will show you the next step of this training."

At this statement Naruto had much more energy than before. "You are gonna owe me a new jutsu" After he said this he started running at the tree, as the Hokage watched as he got two more steps higher.

'There' the Hokage thought, it seemed his little challenge gave vigor to the boy. At this he left Naruto to train in tree climbing.


End file.
